September 2010

09/27/2010

I am one of those people who look at a menu and have a really hard time choosing what to eat. What can I do if I want to eat the chicken, the lamb and at least taste the fish. The solution - Tapas. Eat a little of everything without committing to one large entree and then you go straight to dessert - it doesn't get any better than that :).

While I thoroughly enjoyed eating Tapas in restaurants (Picaros in San Francisco is one of my favorite restaurants), I never really thought of hosting a Tapas dinner. One day as I stood in the check-out line at TJ Maxx, I see this gorgeous book called "The food and the music - Tapas". It has beautiful pictures and rather simple recipes. I brought it home and as soon as my husband saw it, he was planning our next dinner party.

"The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because
people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before
them." - Wikipedia. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I decided to serve a couple of tapas at a time, so my guests could really enjoy each one rather than being overwhelmed with a buffet full of food. If you are hosting a party with a large number of guests, a buffet may be the way to go.

Smoked salmon on cucumber - Delicious cooling appetizer that can be whipped up in 5 minutes. Slice a cucumber, add a dollop of sour cream, a piece of sliced smoked salmon and a little sprig of dill. One of my guests was vegetarian, so I substituted smoked salmon with finely chopped black olives.

Chorizo - Cured meats, dips and bread are the easiest munchies to serve as appetizers. The only effort involved here is shopping and then putting them out in serving dishes. Olives and dried fruits or nuts are a good option too. I try to keep some cheeses and crackers stocked up in my pantry.

Sauteed shrimp - Use raw shrimp for this recipe. I find that cooked shrimp gets chewy very easily. Heat up a wok, put in a little olive oil and a lot of garlic, throw in the shrimp. Using raw shrimp also helps because you can see the color change from gray to pink. Sprinkle on salt, paprika and lemon juice to taste. Finally, stir is whatever herbs you have handy. I toss this just before serving because if you have everything chopped and ready, the actual cooking is less than 5 minutes.

Crostini - You can top a crostini with just about anything. I chose to serve roasted eggplant, tomato and goat cheese. Crostinis look very simple but they take a deceptively long time to make, because you work with one tiny crostini at a time.

Spanish Tortilla - This tapa works really well and is quick and easy to make. I put in spinach and mushrooms. I added roasted almonds for unexpected crunch.

Eggs Florentine - I had never heard of this appetizer before I flipped through the pages of this book. It looked delicious in the book and is a good addition to a brunch menu too. It is basically a mixture of garlic, onions and tomatoes cooked till they are soft, seasoned with salt and paprika. You could add corn and black beans to it too. Make some room in the center of the bowl and break and egg into it. Put the dish in a preheated oven until the eggs set (it takes 5 to 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven). I then sprinkled on some finely chopped prosciutto.

Empanadas - Roll out puff pastry a bit to prevent it from getting to thick on baking. I made 2 sets, one with spicy lamb filling and a vegetarian one stuffed with mushrooms. You then brush a little egg wash (egg white with water) on the puff pastry. Once again, the process of filling is quite time consuming. So get it out of the way early if possible. Pop the baking dish in the oven 20 minutes before you intend to serve it.

Pimientos - We visited Spain last summer. One of the highlights of my trip was Pimientos at a tapas restaurant in Barrio Santa Cruz in Seville. The first bite into the delicious pimientos stuffed with meat in a creamy sauce and I was in heaven. So naturally, when I was doing tapas, I had to include pimientos. This was definitely the most challenging dish in my menu. I couldn't find real pimiento peppers, so I used sweet peppers that are found quite easily. The recipe book had cold pimientos stuffed with cheese. After a lot of searching, I found this blog with a pimiento recipe that sounded close to what I had tasted Pimiento Rellenos recipe. I had to make quite a few modifications, and it tasted good but wasn't exactly what I had eaten in Spain. If someone has a good Pimientos recipe, please send it to me.

I've hosted a tapas party twice so far and they were both wonderful casual evenings. The book was a real inspiration to get me going and try out all these different tapas. I hope my blog has done the same for you.

Hey there !

Hi, I am an Indian (Asian) living in California. Interior decoration is my passion. I enjoy cooking, entertaining and my latest hobby is sewing. This blog is about the various projects I work on to keep me creatively challenged and my quest to have an organized beautiful home. I hope you enjoy the Indian twist (and vibrance) that gets added to everything I do. I'd love to hear from you, so feel free to leave a comment.
- Anuja